Since I have started blogging I have encouraged the rest of the family to get on board and start their own blogs too. We all have our various facebook accounts, some of us more than one, but the idea of leaving constant status updates never really appealed to me. Steve uses his account mainly for contact with his errant venturers and to play games. Harry probably has the most accounts which is ironic given he's technically not old enough to even own one yet. Evan, delights in being anti-social so decides it is easier to start a new account rather than unfriend people on his old account when he's maxed out his friend quota. Sarah uses her account regularly, but unlike most her age seems to refrain from excessive status updates and status checks.
So far, Steve, Sarah and Harry have started their own blogs. In true Harry fashion, he hasn't started one blog but many. Probably by this time next week he'll have about 17 of them running, all sporting just one post. I think with him the fun is in the setting up. Sarah has made some good posts on hers but is determined to only post once a week, whereas I have set myself the goal to post daily on my blog. Steve got on board and has written a couple of posts, I think he's running at about once a week too.
This morning Steve wrote in his blog about yesterday's sailing lesson. I read it and posted a comment on his blog. He asked me what I thought of his post. I told him to read his blog as I had left my opinion there. That's right, we no longer have the need to communicate in the conventional way. If he wants to know what I am up to, he can read it on my blog. What am I thinking? Check out my blog. With all of these forms of social media available today there is no reason he shouldn't know how I am feeling. If I'm annoyed with him he may find a long diatribe on the blog, a snide remark left as a status update on facebook, a photographic essay about it on instagram, a collage of images, blog posts and webpages examining the issue on pinterest, and a witty cryptic message that links to a relevant website on twitter. He can similarly comment back if he feels sufficiently confident to do so.
Okay, back to reality. We're not really that bad, not quite that modern yet, we do still talk to each other in the good old fashioned way. It's interesting that the teenagers have led the push toward authentic person to person communication amongst the family. I have been instructed in no uncertain terms that it is not cool for me to comment on their facebook posts. As we live together we can talk directly to one another and there is no reason what-so-ever I need pass comment in public on their facebook accounts. More over, upon discovery of the incidence of my rash posts on their facebook page, they have been received with firm facepalm to their respective faces. Okay, thanks kids, duly noted.
Evan and I did become fellow kiksters there for a while as we chatted away to each other just before bed. I'd be in my room reading an ebook on my tablet and he would be watching anime in his room on the ipad and we'd have a bit of a chat (or is it called a kik?) I tried out a bit of my texting lingo with him but was told, again in no uncertain terms, that correct spelling and grammar are paramount, otherwise you just look like an idiot. Right, okay, cool. No public posting and always use proper English, got it.
Now the kids are all over Skype with their friends, playing league of legends. They seem to be carrying out a very vibrant and active social life from the comfort of their arm chairs. Every afternoon and weekend they get to hang out with a group of friends, whilst never actually ever being in the same physical proximity as them. It's astounding, really. As it is quite loud and everyone in the house can hear, language and themes must be appropriate and must most definitely be G-rated. I find it fascinating how social media is starting to establish certain limits on acceptable behaviour and it is largely driven by the younger generation. This must surely erk some of the older generation who like to point to the moral decay of modern society and place its blame firmly at the feet of 'young people today'. I personally find the evolution of language as it is being influenced by social media use fascinating. I suspect it was ever the young and up and coming generation that have challenged and pushed the boundaries of language to get it to evolve into what we see today. As English is such a malleable language we will no doubt see its continued metamorphosis into the future, only this time the now younger generation will be the older one, complaining about their how kids are mucking up the language.
No comments:
Post a Comment